Minnesota Raptor Center

In October 2009, Laurel, Kim and I made a trip across the country to the University of MN Raptor Center for a 4-day intensive workshop on the Care and Management of Captive Raptors. It changed my life. Here is a summary of that trip:

We felt very welcomed as soon as we walked into the Raptor Center (www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu).
Gail (the Director) greeted us with smiles and name tags on strings (which we wore around our necks each day), as well as a "padfolio" with note pad and various printouts, including a CD that has the whole workshop on it (all the PowerPoint presentations we saw, hand outs we got, etc.). All of us then went into a large room with tiered seating for the first session. They always had a room with snacks (they also had a continental breakfast each morning), drinks that included sodas, water, teas, coffee, and hot chocolate. We were taken on a tour of the Center: upstairs, downstairs and outside to see some of the outside mews where the educational birds are kept. Their ed birds include 4 bald eagles, at least 4 great horned owls, 3 or 4 red-tailed hawks, a couple of peregrines, a barn owl, a barred owl, a merlin, a couple of beautiful and darling red Eastern screech owls, and some kestrels. They have over 300 volunteers that work there, and in 2008 took in over 7,000 raptors to rehab. They have a clinic downstairs that has about 3-5 veterinarians who are there at any given time, 4 tables (complete with anesthesia), an x-ray room - just like a veterinarian's office. A very busy place, as you can imagine. More on that later.

The first two days were mainly sessions in the room with PowerPoint presentations and talking. There were about 20 people in the class, and usually 4 or 5 people giving different presentations (and who were with us all 4 days). The last 2 days were mainly hands-on with both the ed birds as well as in the clinic downstairs, during which we would break into groups. Some of our classmates were from zoos, some were from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Dept, some from other rehab facilities, some from parks that have captive raptors. Some people were experienced, some not. The neat thing was that everyone there was into raptors, and we were surrounded by a plethora of people whose lives are filled with raptors every day. We were immersed in it for 4 days and loved every minute of it.

The first day (Tuesday) there wasn't an evening session, but Wednesday and Thursday there were optional evening classes, which we took. One was how to make "biofacts," which are where you take pieces of already dead birds (wings, legs & feet), prepare and dry them for 3 weeks, and then have them for showing people (for classes and other public events). I did a wing, which was really interesting. WR&R would have to apply for a "Salvage" permit from the state and the Feds before we could do this and use them for educational purposes. Because of the permits and laws, we were not able to take home the biofacts we all made, they belong to the Raptor Center, but we now know how to make our own. The worst part was having to cut the wing off the bird, but it also helped us see how and where the bones are, how they're all connected, etc.

The other optional class was learning how to "crate" and tether your ed bird - putting them in and taking them out of a carrier (there's a whole certain way to do that), and how to properly tether your bird on a perch on the ground where it's not going to get tangled or hurt. So, Wednesday and Thursday we left the hotel at 8:00 in the morning and got back about 9:00 that night overloaded and exhausted, but high at the same time.

We also watched necropsies (like an autopsy on a person, but they call it a necropsy if it's on an animal) on two hawks and an owl. It was fascinating to see the actual parts of the bird that we have seen in books. It's not the same as a picture, when you see it for real.

One of the things I loved the most was was when we worked in the clinic. It was all hands-on: learning how to properly sub-Q fluids, how to cope beaks (where the beak on a captive bird tends to grow too long, because they aren't doing what they would do in the wild to keep it taken care of), how to do wing wraps, foot wraps, hold the head for exams, and just a myriad of little things to improve how we do things. I actually got to sub-Q a bald eagle! And so did Laurel. At any one time, all 4 tables were full with people working on birds, with at least 2 or 3 other volunteers standing in the room waiting for a table to clear while they were holding more birds that needed to have something done to them. It was amazing, amazing, amazing. We were a part of it, not just observers. Everyone there was very patient, always willing to answer questions, always there to help guide us if we weren't sure what we were doing.



We practiced coping on dead birds before we were OK'd to do it on live birds. I coped the beak of a beautiful cream-colored red-tail (see below pictures) that had been flying over a methane burner when it ignited (I guess that's a real problem back east, where birds will sit on the top of these huge pipes in factories because it's warm, and then a giant ball of flame shoots out to burn the methane off and incinerates the bird), and it singed and burned off all the feathers from its wings and tail. It was awful - I felt so sorry for this poor bird. Most of the feathers were just the shaft, with no feathering on them. They will have to keep him in captivity until next year when it molts and grows all new feathers. Luckily his legs and belly were not burned so he wasn't in pain, and he has a good chance of being released.
Most injuries were wing breaks, although some were shot with pellets (including a turkey vulture).

It was an incredible and invaluable trip, and one that I will never, ever forget.